Race-German War of 1965
The Race-German War of 1965 was a brief and costly war fought between Germany and several of its allies and the Race in 1965. It ended in a Race victory, but also gave the Race cause for concern as it saw how greatly improved German weaponry had become since the World War II vintage weapons it had faced when the Conquest Fleet first landed on Tosev 3 twenty years earlier. Background At the Peace of Cairo conference in 1944, Fleetlord Atvar agreed to withdraw from most of the Race's European conquests but refused to leave Poland. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop demanded that Poland be ceded to the [[Germany (Worldwar)|Greater German Reich]], claiming that German Führer and Chancellor Adolf Hitler had not authorized him to sign any agreement that did not include Poland's retention by the Reich, and threatening to walk out of the conference if his demand was not met. This alienated not only the Race but also the Soviet Union, which was prepared to cede its own claim on Poland to the Race but not to Germany, and other Tosevite not-empires, who feared that unreasonable German ultimata would leave Atvar less willing to make the concessions they'd already won from him. Ribbentrop ultimately backed down when Atvar announced a new, more aggressive military policy: that he would respond to signs of human aggression by overwhelmingly liberal use of explosive-metal bombs. After this, the Race's claim to Poland was recognized by all the major human powers, including Germany. This situation endured for the next two decades. The Soviet Union respected the Race's claim to Poland, as it provided a buffer between the Soviet Union and Germany; in fact Vyacheslav Molotov secretly preferred having the aliens as neighbors rather than the Germans. In Germany, the Race's presence was only tolerated. Hitler hated it, as did his successor, Heinrich Himmler. Himmler was nonetheless canny enough to bide his time until 1964, when he convinced himself (based more on his ideological beliefs than on any concrete fact) that Germany could take Poland from the Race with minimal consequences to Germany. Although confident, Himmler nonetheless proposed an alliance to Soviet leader Molotov, harkening back to the division of Poland in 1939. Molotov firmly declined, having a more realistic understanding of the Race's military power and remembering how Germany had used Poland as a staging ground for the invasion of the USSR. Information of this meeting came to the Race's attention. Moreover, Race forces in Poland noted an increase in German troop activity along the Reich's border. The Race's ambassador in Germany, Veffani, and his aide, Felless, warned Himmler not to pursue such provocations. Himmler flatly denied any intention of launching a war. Himmler's sudden death in December 1964 seemed to bring the crisis to a close. However, he was succeeded by Ernst Kaltenbrunner in 1965. Kaltenbrunner, a fire-breathing Nazi ideologue, launched a sudden, unprovoked invasion of Poland shortly after taking office. The War Germany was supported by the Reich's vassals Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. But the Soviet Union and the United States, which had been invited to join in the war and declined, maintained policies of strict neutrality, and even Britain, while friendly to Germany, wisely offered diplomatic support but no military aid. Nor did Germany's other European allies Finland and Sweden. On the ground German forces struggled against strong resistance from Conquest Fleet veterans commanded by Atvar and their allies in the Polish and Jewish militias. These human fighters made up the majority of the Race's infantry on the Polish front. In conventional weapons the Race was unpleasantly surprised to discover that German tanks were capable of fighting Lizard landcruisers on a two-to-one basis, whereas twenty years earlier the Race had maintained a 5:1 kill ratio in armored combat. While German aircraft still did not quite match the Race's killercraft in quality, the Luftwaffe's squadrons outnumbered its opponents in Poland when the war erupted, and the air war was not the one-sided struggle it had been in the previous conflict. German forces did not advance far into Poland before faltering, largely due to the destruction of the major German cities on the Polish border by the Race, disrupting the German supply lines. German troops were still able to make inroads into Polish territory, capturing Polish and Jewish civilians in the process. At first the Germans attacked into southern Poland, later shifting their efforts farther north. Eventually the Race expelled the invaders and counterattacked into Germany itself. At one point in the war, Romania attempted to desert the Reich. Germany punished it by detonating an atomic bomb over Bucharest, and afterwards Romania, as well as Hungary and Slovakia, was too intimidated to make any further attempts to exit the war. The Race attempted to open a secondary front by invading southern France from Spain. This invasion was soundly defeated. In Earth orbit, the Reich Rocket Force had managed to launch several of its spacecraft before the war's outbreak. Denied reinforcements after the Reich's launching pads were smashed, these spacecraft attacked Race starships with very limited success; after four weeks Germany's space forces had been all but destroyed. In the asteroid belt, a long-range nuclear missile destroyed the Hermann Göring. The fighting also prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from carrying out any shuttle launches or other Earth orbit activity until the war ended. The greatest damage inflicted by both sides was caused by nuclear weapons. Germany managed to destroy nearly every major Polish city, though it spared Pinsk near the Soviet border rather than risk a stray missile hitting the USSR. Istanbul was also destroyed, complicating the Race's resupply of Poland, while four attempts to destroy Cairo failed. Numerous Race colonies around the world were also hit, primarily in North Africa and Arabia, and to a lesser extent in Australia. As damaging as Germany's efforts were, however, the Reich itself was utterly devastated. Nuremberg was destroyed along with every other major German city, though massive subterranean shelters constructed prior to the war saved many of the inhabitants. Other European cities were also hit, including Lyon and Marseilles; the latter may have been targeted by the Race due to its status as a center of ginger smuggling. Within four weeks of the war's outbreak, Germany's space forces had been destroyed, its armies driven out of Poland, and Germany itself completely devastated. Kaltenbrunner and many other senior ''Wehrmacht'', SS, and Nazi Party officials had been killed by this point, leaving General Walter Dornberger to assume the dual office of Führer and Chancellor in the town of Flensburg. Only the Reich's fleet of missile submarines, difficult for the Race to detect and destroy, gave Germany any remaining power. End of the War and Aftermath Main Article: Treaty of Moscow (Worldwar) Despite briefly continuing to wage the war, Dornberger soon instructed his Soviet ambassador Paul Schmidt to ask General-Secretary Vyacheslav Molotov to mediate a peace agreement. Schmidt and his Race counterpart, Queek, negotiated an agreement in the Kremlin. Though Queek opened negotiations by demanding an unconditional surrender, Schmidt reminded the Race that Germany was still able to inflict damage on the Race, thanks primarily to their fleet of nuclear submarines. Also, Molotov pressured Queek into at least guaranteeing continued German sovereignty, for fear of the Race developing too advantageous a position relative to the Soviet Union. Accordingly, a negotiated peace settlement was reached. Thus ended the war as well as Fleetlord Atvar's last significant military action as Fleetlord of the Conquest Fleet. The terms to which Germany was forced to submit were harsh. Germany would not be allowed to travel into space and would also not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons. In addition, France was to be granted her independence and a Fourth Republic was soon proclaimed there. However, as it had after World War I, Germany found ways of subverting the arms restrictions; and like the Entente fifty years before it, the Race lost the will to enforce them. Within a generation Germany was once again a space-faring country and a threat to the Race. The demonstration of the Race's military might reminded Tosevite not-empires that, though they had made some technological gains since the Peace of Cairo, the Race was still the world's single strongest power. When the Race discovered that U.S. President Earl Warren had ordered the destruction of twelve ships of the Colonization Fleet in 1962, Warren, realizing the U.S. could not defeat the Race, accepted punitive measures to secure its status as a space-faring country. The elimination of Germany as a global power also forced a diplomatic realignment of human states. Before the war, a delicate balance had been maintained. Everyone knew that the Race was stronger than either Germany, the United States, or the Soviet Union, but no one knew whether it was stronger than all three; and acting in concert, the human powers were able to negotiate with the Race from a position of strength. With one of the three eliminated, the balance shifted much more in the Race's direction, and the United States and Soviet Union as well as other independent nations began cooperating much more closely. Later in 1965, when it looked like a war between the United States and the Race was likely, Molotov declared that the Soviet Union would ally with the United States in such a war (whereas it had been neutral in the Race-German War) rather than risk becoming the only powerful human nation on a Race-dominated planet. Tremendous chaos throughout Germany and Poland followed the war, and much of the population was displaced. Many families were separated, and some individuals even found themselves enslaved. Mordechai Anielewicz lost track of the atomic bomb he'd captured from Otto Skorzeny over twenty years before; the weapon fell into the hands of a group of violent Jewish fundamentalists. They attempted to detonate it inside Germany but found that it was no longer operational. Shorn of its principal ally and fearful of Soviet dominance, Finland invited the Race to set up a military base in its territory, the Race's first base north of the Baltic. Britain's post-1944 alignment with Nazi Germany now proved to be a mistake, as Britain had now lost its most powerful ally and permanently fell behind in terms of international prestige. Taken with the development of an alliance with the French Fourth Republic and the defeat of the Reich itself, these developments allowed the Race to take a position as the dominant power in Europe, with only the isolated Soviet Union as a rival. Though a great victory for the Race, the victory rang somewhat hollow due to the damage and the casualties suffered, both military and civilian. The hard-fought victory also served as a reminder that the subjugation of all of Tosev 3 would be an extraordinarily difficult and costly task, one which might even prove impossible. Radiation resulting from the German-Race nuclear exchange spread to neutral countries, severely disrupting civilian life for decades to come. Category:Worldwar Category:Wars (Alternate Timeline) Category:Wars Involving the Race Category:Wars Involving France Category:Wars Involving Germany Category:Wars Involving Hungary Category:Wars Involving Poland Category:Wars Involving Romania Category:Wars Involving Turkey